Mortonhall Crematorium

We are caught up in this. Our son died in 2008 and we were told there were no remains. After waiting almost 17 months for the report to be conducted and delivered we found out yesterday that the council have had it for 2 weeks. We get our copy next week, 3 hours before they give it to the press. Apparently it takes the council 2 weeks to read a 650 page report but it will only take us 3 hours.

I'm sorry for your situation. We lost a baby girl in 2004 and she was cremated, but we were not lied to. We were told that there would be very few ashes (she was only 5 months gestation) and that they would be spread in the flowerbeds at the crem. That was what we wanted , and were happy with. But I cannot imagine finding out we had been lied to and the additional pain that causes.

I'm in Aberdeenshire where there has also been the same problem with the crematorium although we buried our daughter so have not been affected. We were told there would be no ashes, our daughter was over 10 lbs at birth and 2 weeks old when she died (full term).

It's shocking that you will not see the report at the same time as the Council, shocking.

Thank you. The report is very hard reading. We have no definite answer of where our son's ashes were placed. Our records have been deemed to be unreliable. I think this is just the tip of the iceberg unfortunately.

It's horrifying. I'm so sorry for you and for all the other families who have been treated so terribly - not just at this crematorium but at others as well. I wonder how many others, and where.

When the scandal around hospitals keeping the organs of dead babies for decades broke, it focused on Alder Hey, because that was where the story emerged - but it turned out there were many pathologists who had had the same cavalier approach. The authorities in England and Wales should be looking hard at this report.

Around the time of Alder Hey, I remember several doctors repeating the line that 'there is no property in a corpse'. They honestly, or arrogantly, thought they could do as they wished with the organs of babies who had died.